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TICKETS GO ON SALE FOR TOWN HALL REOPENING

25-05-2007

Just a bit of advance warning for after the Bank Holiday weekend. Tickets for the two week “Celebrating the Past, Pioneering the Future” Festival to mark the reopening of Birmingham Town Hall go on sale on Wednesday.

The Re-opening Concert sees an outstanding line-up of local and national musicians performing Quincy Jones “Messiah: A Soulful Celebration” a pioneering gospel/soul re-imagination of Handel’s Messiah (which was a mainstay of the famous Birmingham Triennial Festivals, held at the Town Hall from 1834 to 1912).

Dusting down the great work will be Ruby Turner, Cleveland Watkiss, Soweto Kinch, Black Voices, BBC Big Band, the Reggae Philharmonic, and the cream of local gospel talent.

Other headline events include Brum Rocks Extra for The Children’s - a concert in aid of Birmingham Children’s Hospital Red Balloon Appeal - with an all-star line-up including Robert Plant, Bev Bevan and John Lodge.

There’s also a unique collaboration between Guillemots frontman Fyfe Dangerfield and the CBSO, while multi-award-winning jazz saxophonist and hip-hop artist Soweto Kinch premieres The Midnight Hop, a specially-commissioned work inspired by the forgotten stories of 18th and 19th-century black musicians in England.

For full details of the festival go to www.thsh.co.uk.

Tickets for all events go on sale on Wednesday at 9am. You can book online at the address above or call 0121 780 3333, or call in person at either the Town Hall or Symphony Hall. Postal bookings also accepted.

To see Pete Millington’s picture gallery of the revamped Town Hall click here.